There were significant developments for our client in last summer's Forest Avenue shooting. The State has now indicted the alleged victims for robbery and assault of others on that same night. This reflects what we already knew: that these alleged victims were, in fact, the aggressors. This raises issues of self-defense, defense of others and of property, which are all recognized defenses in Maine. From the Portland Press Herald today:
Two more men facing charges in connection with deadly biker gang fight
By EMILY ALLEN Staff Writer
A grand jury has indicted two men who were injured last summer in a fight between two motorcycle groups near Morrill's Corner that ended in the fatal shooting of a woman.
William Holmes, 49, and Troy McHugh, 52, were indicted on Aug. 5 on two counts of robbery for an alleged attack against a 32-year-old man on July 30, 2024, the same day as the fatal shooting.
McHugh and Holmes are members of a group that prosecutors and police have called a biker gang, known as FSU, although an attorney for one of the men said the group is not a gang.
The men are now charged with using force to take property from a member of a rival group affiliated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. That included punching the man in the head several times, Cumberland County prosecutors alleged in court records.
Holmes has denied the charges in court and posted bail, his attorney Rob Andrews said Thursday.
Andrews said Holmes was clearly "ambushed on July 30, 2024" and that he is being revictimized by the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office and Portland Police.
The district attorney's office declined to comment on the indictments.
Spokesperson Abbey St Claire said they do not comment on active cases.
Both men were considered victims in a series of high-profile assault charges that the Office of the Maine Attorney General filed against six men, all of whom were allegedly tied to the Outlaws and a local group named Higher Calling.
The attorney general's office has alleged that those rival gang members attacked McHugh and Holmes' group with a police-style baton, a switchblade and mini sledgehammers on the evening of July 30, 2024.
A seventh man charged by the attorney general's office, Aaron Karp, fatally shot McHugh's wife, Susan, that night. Karp pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April after prosecutors agreed he could plausibly argue the shooting was in self-defense.
The attorney general's office was not involved in the charges against Holmes and McHugh, spokesperson Danna Hayes said Thursday. The office declined to comment on whether the new charges could affect its case against the other men.
"They were simply standing in a parking lot," Andrews said, describing surveillance video of the attack that the attorney general's office played in court. Andrews said the video shows Holmes was "clearly hit in the back of the head," and that his client spent two weeks in a coma.
The six other men charged — Caleb Pelkey, Nathan Walsh, Jason Keenan, James Moody, Kris Haken and Kaleb Cidre — have pleaded not guilty to the state's allegations and are awaiting trial.
Some of their attorneys said Thursday that the new charges against Holmes and McHugh could help to support their claims of self-defense.
"The alleged victims in Mr. Cidre's case are now charged with assaulting and robbing other people on that same night," defense attorney Timothy Zerillo wrote in an email.
"You don't have to be a lawyer to recognize that this raises significant defenses.
Like many things, the facts of this case are not nearly as simple as they were first reported.
Mr. Cidre looks forward to his day in court."
Pelkey's attorney, David Bobrow, said the group of men has argued repeatedly that they acted "in complete defense" and that McHugh and Holmes' group acted first.
The recent development "only enhances the argument we have made all along ... that our clients did nothing criminal and these charges against them should immediately be dismissed," Bobrow wrote in an email.
Emily Allen — 207-791-6457 eallen@pressherald.com